Senator Gillibrand Statement On Reports That State Department Is Planning to Eliminate Its Anti-Semitism Envoy

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today released the following statement on reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is planning to eliminate the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Counter Anti-Semitism position:

“I am very disturbed that less than a month after I introduced my bipartisan bill to elevate and empower the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Counter Anti-Semitism, I am now seeing reports that Secretary of State Tillerson is letting the State Department’s entire anti-Semitism office sit empty as he considers eliminating this position. There is no doubt that anti-Semitism continues to thrive in many places around the world and right here at home, and it would be a huge mistake to take away one of the State Department’s main tools in the fight against this ugly and hateful scourge. We all have a responsibility to do what we can to counter anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry wherever we see them, and I urge all of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in supporting this bipartisan legislation.”